Panhandle District
The Panhandle District is a location on the Norfolk Southern Railway, and the Main Area in Panhandle Rail Stories. ''It is part of the Georgia Division. Bio The Panhandle District is located in Georgia and Florida. It begins a few miles east of Jacksonville, where a large interchange yard is located, and terminates about 100 miles away in Valdosta, GA. It then Connects to the Macon District, and eventually to the Atlanta South and North Districts, where most, if not all cargo is brought to. It was originally built, owned, and maintained by the Southern Railway until the merger in 1982. It is now owned by Norfolk Southern, with Occasional runthrough from Florida East Coast and CSX Transportation. A Small Inland port that is not named as of now and an Automotive Facility also reside along the division. Freight Traffic The Panhandle Division sees about 30-50 Trains Daily. From most common to least these include; * Intermodal - Extremely common; the biggest commodity shipped on the division. nearly 20-25 trains daily * Manifest - Very common - nearly 10 trains daily. * Coal - Common - Nearly 5-10 Trains as needed bi-daily to bi-weekly * Ethanol - Uncommon, Bi-weekly trains. About 2-3 every 2 weeks. * The Flying Catfish - Exclusive train to the Panhandle Division, delivers Catfish caught from Palmer Lake to The City near Valdosta Union Station. It is usually always pulled by Jonah. About 2-3 trains each week. * M.o.W Equipment - Includes Ballast, Rail trains, etc. This is rare but it usually occurs when maintenance is needed. All equipment is stored in the Valdosta Union Freight Yard. The frequency of these trains are unknown and come whenever they are needed or required by the Railroad. Additionally, there are four daily locals; * The Valdosta Job - Serves the Yard and industry leading up to Red Rock Station. Usually this job is served by Henry or Nicholas. * The Panhandle Job - Serves the Interchange Yard. This sorts equipment out to be interchanged with other railroads. This job is usually served by any Six Axle unit. * The Port Job - Serves the Inland Port and takes cut of Oversea intermodal to Interchange Yard. From there it is determined what it's destination is. This job also takes Autoracks that are loaded at the port, rather than on the Atlanta South District's branch line. * The Panhandle Local - This is an upgraded version of the Valdosta Job and usually uses Six Axle Power. It serves industry during the day from Valdosta to Jacksonville. This job is usually done by Arthur. Stations The Panhandle District has Three Stations total. At the interchange yard is Okeelanta Station, served by Amtrak. A Few miles down is Red Rock station, which harbors the Florida-Georgia line. Amtrak serves this station as well. The final station is Valdosta Union Station, which is served by Amtrak, but used as a crew change point for any non-Georgia based trains heading further up North before leaving the Panhandle Division. As such, a small refuel terminal is here, and it's the main hub for NS's McCormick Yard. Amtrak has four main passenger trains that are serviced on this route; The Palmetto, The Crescent, The Silver Service, and The South Wind. Additionally, this station is the Main point for Excursion consists, such as Southern 4501, N&W 611, and NKP 765 when visiting for recreational purposes. McCormick Yard is also the new terminating point for the Palmetto as of 2008. There is talk that a new station will appear on the Division. Episode Appearances 'Season 1:''' * Little to Nothing * It takes two * Legend has it * Mentor * The Flying Catfish Trivia * Florida East Coast interchanges with Norfolk Southern at the Interchange yard, giving the railroad partial trackage rights as far as Okeelanta Yard. CSX Interchanges at McCormick yard in Valdosta near a connection point. * The original Panhandle Division was going to run West to East, but this would be incorrect for NS since CSX owns the Tallahassee part of Florida. Moving it up to the bottom of Georgia would not work either as the section served by NS is much too small. It was then decided to be an alternate route from Jacksonville that connected with Valdosta. * The route is one of the Oldest to exist in the series. * It's the first and only route not to be named after the Official Route name, which was the Ferry Subdivision. Category:Locations Category:Routes